Warner Bros. has revealed the first trailer for the upcoming film, Shazam! San Diego Comic Con. Slated to be released in spring 2019, the movie might provide a comic relief in the otherwise dark DC superhero movies.
Though the trailer initially invokes some of the gritty style set up by director Zack Snyder for the DC extended universe that began with Man of Steel, it turns to show the lighter of being a superhero.
Helmed by David Sandberg (Annabelle:Creation), the film is based on a comic book and the movie follows foster teen Billy Batson who morphs into a costume-clad, bulletproof adult superhero, played by Zachary Levi (Shazam is also known as Captain Marvel) with superhuman strength and other abilities by just uttering the word ‘Shazam!’.
The synopsis follows:
We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Superhero Shazam (Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them!
Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Strong).
“It’s Superman meets Big! It’s complete wish-fulfillment — if you scour all of DC and Marvel there are very few characters that are actually stoked to be a superhero…Billy Batson is like Peter Parker, they’re thrilled to have these powers and can’t wait to try them out,” Levi told Entertainment Weekly about the film.
Since 2013, when it plunged into the DC movie universe, Warner Bros. has struggled to match the success of competitor Marvel Studios, which has produced back-to-back hits for a decade now. Though Wonder Woman was a huge success, but the majority like Justice League, failed to impress.
Shazam!, that appears to be a refreshing entry into the genre that shows superhero movies don’t have to deal with only serious business, might open a new arena for the DC ‘movieverse’ to audiences.
Shazam! will hit the screens on 5 April, 2019.
